


Kidlet stories: Sergio

by dollylux



Series: Born to Run [9]
Category: Football RPF
Genre: Gen, Homelessness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-13
Updated: 2014-06-13
Packaged: 2018-02-04 11:34:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1777558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dollylux/pseuds/dollylux
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A night on the streets.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kidlet stories: Sergio

Sergio always prefers big cities to small towns. Small towns have small populations, and a vast majority of that population knows the rest of it, knows everyone's business and knows every whispered goings-on no matter how trivial. Something like a vagabond teenager could spark enough stories for a whole year, depending on how long he stayed and how many females he interacts with. Big cities are used to homeless kids, they're used to shivering, hungry mouths and to nameless faces and to dirty, torn clothes and to sad stories with inevitable ends. And so, when he can, he goes to the larger cities, to Minneapolis, to Milwaukee, to Cleveland, to Des Moines, to Tulsa. To places where he won't earn a second glance, where he can curl up next to a dumpster and get a halfway decent night's sleep. 

So when he finds himself in Topeka, he skulks around town for a couple of hours, the town bustling in the late evening and he always loves this time of day: when cities are alive with people going to dinner, to movies, on dates, going home from work, grocery shopping, walking their dogs, hanging out with friends outside of the mall. All of it makes Sergio feel less alone, makes him feel like he's apart of something even when he's not, makes him feel anonymous in a way that everyone else is, makes him feel warm even, sometimes. He's almost smiling by the time he finds a small alley between a Mexican restaurant and a 24-hour laundry mat, abandoned except for a few cardboard boxes and empty plastic containers and a dumpster that smells strongly of corn chips and spicy salsa. He ignores the rumble of his stomach and gathers a nest for himself for the night, loose pieces of newspaper and stray, dirty rags thrown at the dumpster but they'd missed by a few feet. He curls down into it just on the edge of the street and peers out from his hiding place at the street scene, hands tucked into his pocket and he feels happy in spite of himself. 

His eyes are heavy with his hard-earned relaxation but they widen a little when he hears a quickly approaching voice that is booming and trembling with volume, with fervency. Sergio frowns and sits up and he can make out the words soon enough, the volume of the man's voice echoing off the surrounding buildings. The people walking next to the approaching man sink away from him, falling quiet in disturbance and nervousness. Sergio can see that he's a great man, a tall man with long legs and arms and a beard that stretches down his chest and there isn't a tooth in his head but his voice is that of a believer, the blind, maybe violent fervency of a cult leader.

"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments." Sergio trembles at the strength and urgency in the man's voice, a specific pitch and intonation that sends terror down his spine. The man comes to a stop in front of him and his eyes are wild in a way Sergio has never witnessed and that are pale blue, vacant the way a blind man's are. 

Their eyes lock, Sergio's dark and bright with fear and the man looks astonished, frozen on the spot, cracking mouth gaping like an open wound, his tongue working hysterically in the cavern of it.

"Oh. Oh. Oh, Lord, my God. Lord, my God! He's one of them! He's one of them! They've found their way to Earth, Lord! They're coming to get me! They're coming to get us all!" The man is screaming now and he's drawn a crowd and he's pointing at Sergio who is shivering with cold and fear and who is trying to make himself as small as possible though every single pair of eyes finds him, stare at him in terror and accusingly. "HE IS NOT ONE OF US. HE'S THE REAL THING. HE'S THE REAL THING."

"Please," Sergio manages but his voice is trembling violently, his insides quaking and he's near tears now, nearly gasping in his fear. The man is closer suddenly and he smells of death, real death, old death, human death. Sergio feels like he's going to faint.

"I know what you are. You can try to hide, you can walk this world over but I will always know what you are. You can't hide from me. We will find you. _We will find you,_ " the man hisses, his breath putrid and smelling of decay and it coats Sergio's face and floods his nostrils and tears are streaming helplessly down Sergio's cheeks now. Then the man is gone as suddenly as he'd come, his voice raised in madness once more, shouting verses, shouting warnings. Sergio looks down at his curled body, avoiding the eyes still on him. He closes his eyes and wills them away, not looking up until he is absolutely sure he's alone again. He moves his bed to the other side of the dumpster, deep in the dead-end alleyway. The tears are freezing on his cheeks now and he cannot stop the fine tremble that has settled on his tired body.

He does not sleep.


End file.
